


A Spark of Magic

by KingBirb



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Marching Band, Amity is not good at getting Luz’s attention, Angst, Camila is a good mom, F/F, Fluff, Lilith is the band director, Luz has adhd, Slow Burn, Useless Lesbian Amity Blight, Willow and Gus are the best, mean pranks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:14:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27843547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingBirb/pseuds/KingBirb
Summary: Luz just wants a fresh start at a new school and a new band program, but after what happened at her last school, she isn’t sure she’ll be able to make a good impression.OrA marching band AU that I’m using to fill the void of no marching band this year
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Edalyn Clawthorne & Luz Noceda, Luz Noceda & Willow Park, Luz Noceda & Willow Park & Gus Porter
Comments: 41
Kudos: 113





	1. The First Day (part 1)

**Author's Note:**

> Gooday! This is the first fic I’ve ever written, so if you have any feedback or criticisms, I’d like to hear. I’m a bit of a band nerd, but since I know most people aren’t, I’ll try my best throughout this fic to explain band terms, and if you’re ever confused, I’ll be happy to explain stuff in the comments. I hope you enjoy.

The car slowly rolled to a stop. The ride seemed to fly by for Luz, all the nervous energy held within her body starting to overflow her senses. All she could focus on was how she knew she would do something to get herself in trouble, it always happened. It’s why she’s going to this new school and is joining a different band program. A warm hand landed on her shoulder and Luz looked up to her mami.

“Mija, I know you are nervous, but this is a new start for you! Just listen to the instructions that you're given, I know you can do this.” Camila really did try her best to calm Luz,but her efforts were in vain. She could still see the anxious look on Luz’s face. The last time they did this, it didn’t end well for Luz. Maybe it was her weird antics that scared off any potential friends, or the fact that everyone already seemed to be in tight-knit groups that didn’t seem interested in including her. “Luz, you have been working so hard for this, I hear how well you play all, what is it? Six instruments now? And I know you can make friends, just be yourself.”

“Being myself is why I’ve never had friends in the past,” Luz grumbled. Luz felt those warm arms wrapping around her, Camila pulling her in for a hug across the seat of the car. 

“Just give it a chance okay, if after a few days you don’t think you can continue, I’ll pull you out of the marching band. Is that okay?” Camila really doesn’t want to have to do that, but she knows that what matters most is that Luz has fun and maybe makes a few friends.

As Camila started pulling back, Luz looked up to her. “Thanks, mami. I’ll do my best today.” Luz forced a small smile before opening the door and stepping out onto the pavement. She saw a few people already heading toward the school, instruments in hand. Luz unloaded her stuff from the back and exchanged goodbyes with her mother before finally turning back and making her way toward the school.

——

Luz hears the chattering of students from inside the band room, those nerves coming back full force. Having followed one of the other students here, she’s not exactly sure what she’s meant to do. She hasn’t chosen an instrument to play in marching band yet, she kinda hoped to wing it and play whatever was needed. She stepped through the threshold into the band room and took a moment to just take it all in. A new band room, filled with new and unfamiliar faces. 

Music stands are placed in arcs surrounding a podium where the band director conducts. Behind this podium, Luz notices a large whiteboard. Written on it in huge letters is ‘check in at the band director’s office before rehearsal begins’. Well that answers Luz’s question on what to do next. In the corner of the band room, a room, presumably the office, is visible, as well as a semi-long line stretching outside of it. Luz carefully walks in the direction, avoiding the clusters of people scattered around as well as the music stands. 

Luz reaches the end of the queue and waits, her hands fidgeting restlessly, trying to focus on any music theory related thoughts to get her brain off of the fear of possibly making a fool of herself already. She managed to get through that ‘think inside the box’ summer camp her mom sent her to, yet she still doesn’t feel fully ready. Before her thoughts drift off again a hand waves in front of her face and her eyes focus. Luz quickly looks up to see a girl in front of her trying to get her attention.

Luz flushes, realizing she was already caught spacing out, but before she could say anything, the girl spoke. “Hey, I was just trying to get your attention, you're new here right?” She didn’t seem to be annoyed at all about Luz spacing out.

Not sure what to expect from this stranger, Luz finally replied. “uhh yeah, is it that obvious? Also sorry for not listening the first time.” 

“Hey, it’s no problem at all, you don’t have to apologize. I’m Willow, by the way. And sorry if my question was blunt, it’s just that this is my second year in marching band and I’ve never seen you.” Willow smiled a little apologetically at Luz. 

Luz felt a calm energy from this girl and relaxed a bit. “If I don’t get to apologize, neither do you. I’m Luz. Luz Noceda. It’s nice to meet you Willow.” Luz held out her hand to which Willow gave it a quick shake before releasing her.

Willow then turned back and pulled a shorter boy out in front of her. “This is Gus, he’s my best friend. If you need any help, we’d be happy to answer any questions you have.”

The boy that was suddenly pulled into the conversation gave a slightly confused look and said “we are?” To which Willow gave him a quick glare and a nudge. Promptly, Gus looked over to Luz and said “Of course we’re happy to answer questions.” 

Luz smiled at the pair’s antics. “Thank you, both. So what instruments do you guys play?”

Gus is quick to reply with “oh I play the alto and tenor sax. I’m planning on playing tenor this marching season. I played alto last year when I marched in eighth grade. They allowed me to do high school marching band so this is my second year even though I’m a freshman.” He tried to act nonchalant about his answer, but clearly seemed proud of himself. 

“That’s awesome,” Luz said excitedly, her nervous energy from earlier starting to dissipate. “This will hopefully be my first full year of marching band since I wasn’t able to finish the season last year.”

“If that’s the case, we could totally help you with the basics! Marching is a lot harder than it looks, and if you ever need some help during the breaks or outside of rehearsal, we’d love to help,” Willow said. Luz just stared at the two in front of her for a moment, and honest to god almost teared up right then and there, but just barely managed to hold it back.

“You have no idea how much that means to me, really, you two are the best,” Luz replies, trying to calm down a new excited feeling bubbling up in her stomach, but as it took over, she couldn’t help but lunge forward and bring them all into what would’ve been an awkward hug, but Gus and Willow just laughed along and hugged her back. After a moment Luz pulled back, her face radiating the joviality she felt. 

“I know we’re the best,” is what Gus said before another glare was shot at him by his best friend. 

“Anyways, I play the clarinet,” Willow said, answering the question Luz asked earlier. “What do you play?”

Luz’s eyes almost lit up at the question before she responded. “I actually play six instruments.” Both Willow and Gus’s eyes widened a bit before Luz started listing them off, using her hands to count each one. “I play the alto sax, clarinet, oboe, trumpet, french horn and uhhh,” Luz took a moment to go through them all again before she remembered. “Oh yeah, and the bassoon. I am yet to try any low brass, but I plan to start learning euphonium later this year with my private lesson teacher.” Luz’s voice became excited and she was barely able to restrain herself from just ranting on about the instruments she plays. Before she could, however, the front of the line they were waiting in had arrived and Gus had to go into the office.

Leaving just Willow and Luz again, Willow responded to what Luz had said. “Wow, six instruments? That’s impressive, especially the fact that you play two reed instruments, two double reed instruments, and two high brass. As a reed player, I can’t even get a sound out of a brass instrument let alone play one.” Luz proudly nods.

“Yeah, it takes a lot of practice, and it’s sometimes hard to keep up with all the instruments, but I can’t choose just one. I hope to one day master as many as I can,” Luz explained passionately. 

Willow couldn’t help but admire Luz’s devotion to music. “I have complete faith that you’ll reach that goal. You seem to really care about music, in just the few minutes I’ve known you, I can already tell. It’s really cool how into it you are.” As Willow said this, Luz gave her a skeptical look.

“Really?” Luz started. “Almost anyone I talk to about this just gets annoyed and changes the subject,” Luz states, dejectedly.

“Well they clearly don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s refreshing to see someone so enthusiastic about music. Honestly, most of the band kids here don’t even care much about band, they’re doing it for extra credit.” Luz looks stunned, at a loss for words. No one has ever actively encouraged her to talk about her interest in music aside from her mami and her private lesson teacher. Luz gave a grateful smile and as she was about to reply, probably thank Willow again, Gus came out of the office. “I guess I gotta go now. See you later?” Willow said.

“Yeah!” Luz’s enthusiasm didn’t go unnoticed and it left Willow smiling as she walked into the office. Luz stands at the front of the line, grinning uncontrollably. That was probably the longest conversation she’s ever had with someone her age in years. Maybe joining marching band was a good idea.

——

As Luz waited in line, her nervous energy having almost completely subsided, Luz became restless. The wait is only about 2 minutes, but in that time she goes over her conversation with Willow and Gus. She hopes they’ll accept her as a friend. They’d be the first friends she’s had since elementary school. She couldn’t help how much she loved music, and how much she wanted to share it with everyone. As middle school rolled around, the people she used to call ‘friends’ started ignoring her and pushing her out of their lives. Anyone Luz tried to make friends with during that time would find her weird or annoying. It had been like this all the way through her freshman year of high school. Being kicked out of the band program at her previous school had been what made her change schools, she wanted to start new. Luz did not expect, however, to actually make possible friends on her very first day. The thought made her giddy.

The door to the office creaks open and Willow steps out and motions for Luz to walk in. Luz closes the door behind her and faces the intimidating woman in front of her, who is certainly the band director. 

“Welcome,” the woman says in a level voice before motioning for Luz to sit down in a seat in front of her desk. “May I get your name?”

Luz nods dumbly for a moment before saying “Luz Noceda, ma’am.”

“Just call me Ms. Clawthorne, I’ll be your band director for this marching season and school year.” Luz perked up the name, recognizing it. Luz finds a name tag on the director’s desk that reads ‘Lilith Clawthorne’. Luz will have to ask her private lesson teacher about it later. “Since you’re new here I’ll give you a quick rundown on the band program here. This band program is one of the best in the state, and it’s very important that you are prepared each day. Bring enough water, have your music memorized by the time it’s supposed to be, stuff like that.” Luz nodded along to what she was saying, hands fidgeting uncontrollably. “So what instrument do you have in mind that you’d like to play?”

Luz has already prepared what she wanted to say about this and responds quickly. “Actually, I was hoping to ask you what instruments are needed, since I play several instruments, I could probably play whatever is most needed.” 

Lilith looked surprised by this, and her face settled on a pleased smile. “That would actually be lovely,” Lilith started. “We do have an instrument that we are in dire need of. If you’d be okay with playing mellophone this marching season, we don’t actually have any at the moment, and we could really use someone on the part.”

“Mellophone? Isn’t that a marching french horn?” Luz asked, curiously. She’s never actually played one, but she does play high brass so she should be able to learn it quickly.

Lilith nodded and answered “yes, and unfortunately all the french horn players in this school are either not in marching band, or not going to be playing mellophone this year. So what do you say?”

“Of course!” Luz replied. “I actually play both trumpet and french horn already, so another high brass shouldn’t be too difficult to learn.”

“Great, I’ll check you out a school issued mellophone. Since it will be a new instrument for you, I’d recommend practicing a bit at home so you can fully catch up.” Lilith said as she started writing something on a slip of paper. “Last thing is your band locker. I’m issuing you one of the larger ones for your mellophone. We are very lucky at this school to be able to check out a band locker for every student. They’re most used as a personal space to keep your instrument and supplies, and keep them safe. Here,” she said, handing Luz the slip of paper. “This is your locker number and combination. And over there,” Lilith pointed to an instrument case that sat next to the door, “is the mellophone you will be using”

Luz smiled at Lilith, “thank you, Ms. Clawthorne. I’ll do my best to catch up on it.” 

“Thank you, for stepping up to play it. You can now head to your locker and get ready for the day. Rehearsal will be starting in 15 minutes and the first block is three hours long.” With that, Luz stood up, and found her way to the door. She picked up the mellophone case, and with one last glance back at Ms. Clawthorne, she opened the door and exited the room. 

———

Luz quickly found Willow and Gus who had been waiting outside the office already ready for the day, their instruments out and water jugs in hand. “Hey Luz, we thought we could show you where the band locker area is.” Luz grinned gratefully and accepted their help. Willow and Gus took lead while Luz followed, listening to all the random facts about the school that Gus seemed to know. They found themselves in a separate hallway through one of the doors that led right out of the band room. With Willow and Gus’s help, Luz was quickly able to locate what was to be her new locker. As she started to work the combination on the lock, Willow spoke. “So, you’re playing mellophone this year?”

“Yeah,” Luz exclaimed. “Ms. Clawthorne said that there were no other players so I decided I’d be the one.”

“That’s very nice of you, last we only had one mellophone as well, but she’s not doing mellophone this year,” Willow explained.

As the large locker finally opened, Luz looked back at Willow. “Oh? What is she playing this year?”

“You’ll see.” Willow said, mysteriously. 

“Well lucky for you, I love mysteries,” Luz replies with false confidence. “I bet I’ll find that mellophone quitter soon.” Luz takes the mellophone out of its case. It looks a bit old, but it’s surprisingly very clean and shiny. “Who would quit a beautiful instrument such as this?” Luz asks rhetorically. After packing everything into her new locker, only taking her mellophone and water, the group head back into the band room. The line that was once in front of the band director’s office is now only two people waiting. 

Before anything can be said, a loud voice rings throughout the room causing all of the chattering to quickly disperse. “Rehearsal is starting in five minutes! We are going to be sitting around the podium for the beginning of rehearsal so Ms. Clawthorne can talk to us, so if you have everything you need for rehearsal, start gathering around the podium!” The voice announces. People begin sitting near and around the director’s podium. Luz barely catches a glimpse of the mint hair of the person that had been giving the directions before she was pulled over by Willow to a spot to sit.


	2. First Day (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day progresses and stuff happens. I’m really bad at writing summaries.

It’s only a few minutes before Ms. Clawthorne would come out of her office to address everyone. In that time, Luz, Willow, and Gus discussed what they think the show theme will be. It was kept a secret to all the band kids so that Ms. Clawthorne could announce it on the first day of rehearsal. 

As Lilith stepped out of her office, finally having checked everyone in, everyone quieted down so she could speak. “Good morning students, I would first like to thank you all for being here, it is an honor to be here and work with you all.” Lilith takes a moment to look around at everyone before continuing. “The first thing I would like to announce is this year's show theme, which is one that I personally am very excited for.” Excited chatter rose among the group before being silenced as she spoke again. “This year’s show will explore the world of magic and witchcraft. The show will be titled ‘A Spark of Magic’, and will be an approximately seven minute long feature that we will perform during half times at football games, as well as compete with in four separate competitions against other bands.” Lilith took a moment for the show theme to sink in with everyone.

Luz didn't think there could be one person more excited than herself, the idea of magic had always entranced her. She immediately turned to Willow and Gus. “Magic! That’s so cool! I’m so excited for this show, I wonder what the music will sound like. Will it be dark and mysterious? Or… oh! What if the show has a really mythical, otherworldly sound! There should be an awesome fight in it too!” Luz’s mind was reeling with ideas of where this show could go. Willow and Gus looked intrigued with the ideas the Luz came up with.

“Yes, a great battle between witches, magic flying everywhere! That would be the coolest,” Gus exclaimed. Willow watched on, amused at the enthusiasm in Luz and Gus’s conversation. 

Soon, Lilith started speaking again, loud enough to get everyone’s attention. “I see that you're all excited, but before we begin music warm up, I’d like to continue introductions.” As Lilith was speaking, Luz was already far too lost in her mind to pay attention much longer, all she could think about was the possibilities embedded in a marching show about magic. Maybe the color guard would be dressed up as witches and have cool props. What if instead of flags, they had broom sticks or something cool like that? As for the music that they’d be playing, well, Luz already found music enchanting, but what would they do with a theme of magic? The possibilities are endless. 

Luz started bouncing excitedly on the floor as all the ideas flowed in. All of a sudden, she felt a nudge on her elbow. Luz’s eyes suddenly focused, realizing she spaced out again. When she saw all eyes on her and Willow nudging her, she internally panicked. She hadn’t been listening since Lilith had given the show theme. Fortunately, Willow was there to help. “We’re introducing the new students, say your name and instrument,” Willow said quietly and hastily. 

Luz’s eyes bulged out as she looked back to the group and cleared her throat. Her face heated up significantly and she started speaking. “Uhh… hi umm my name is Luz, I’m a sophomore and I’ll be playing mellophone,” she squeaked out. She then looked up at Lilith who didn’t seem very amused, but gave a curt nod before moving on to the next new student. Luz let out a sigh of relief as the eyes left her, but she still felt mortified that she had, once again, been caught not paying attention. Her whole body was tense, and her eyes cast down. 

She felt another nudge to her side and looked up to see Willow, a worried look on her face. “Hey, it’s okay, you don’t have to worry, it happens to the best of us. No one will remember it by tomorrow,” Willow tried to reassure Luz in a low voice so as to not get any unwanted attention. Luz felt her racing heart slow down to a more reasonable pace and the tension start to leave her shoulders. She gave a thankful smile before turning back to Lilith and doing everything she could to pay attention. 

“So now that all the new students have introduced themselves, let’s move on to the section leaders this year. The role of a section leader is to be responsible for their section, to lead and be the example to everyone else. They have extra responsibilities as well, including scheduling and running sectionals, making sure everyone in their section is up to date on any news, as well as to make sure their section is prepared for the day.” Luz listened in awe, maybe she’d like to be section leader one day, but could she hold that much responsibility? Also, wouldn't she technically already be her own section leader since she’s the only mellophone? These are questions that will stick in her mind for the rest of time.

Lilith started introducing the section leaders, and Luz almost immediately forgot every name she heard. Some of the names stood out, however, some guy named Jerbo was the flute section leader, and a cool girl with a fishhook earring named Viney being called the front ensemble section leader. Luz could barely remember any others but she tried her best. There was no specified mellophone section leader so Luz didn’t have to stress about being an example or anything. Not like she had anyone to be an example to. But still, she felt safer knowing she didn't have the title.

“Reminder that the section leaders are people that you can go to if you are ever struggling,” Lilith stated after getting through everyone. “If one person in their section is out of tune, the section leader is the one to be blamed, for it’s their job to keep everyone’s skills sharp.” Okay now the idea of being a section leader scared her even more. “I’d like to end introductions with introducing our drum major...” Lilith paused for a moment, and motioned for someone to stand up and stand next to her. The mint hair with growing in brown roots made her stick out from everyone else as she took her place next to the band director. An almost smug smile dawned this girl’s face. “This is Amity Blight, this year’s drum major. Now the drum major has one of the most important roles in our entire show. She is to conduct on the drum major’s podium and keep the entire band perfectly in time. She is responsible for leading the entire band, through rehearsals and performances, and to follow through with any instructions given straight from the director.”

As Lilith spoke, the smug look on Amity’s face grew. “The drum major has the authority near that of the band director themself. If you ever have a question that your section leader can’t answer, the drum major is the next person to go to.” Well if Luz doesn’t have a section leader, does that mean she should just go directly to Amity when she has a question? “It’s the job of the rest of the band to listen to the drum major and carry out whatever instructions they provide. Amity will be running all warm ups and using that time to tune the band. She will also be in charge of the metronome, which will be used during both music rehearsal and movement rehearsal, which will come later today.” Luz watched as Amity nodded along with Lilith. “Now with introductions out of the way, let me hand it off to Amity to get warm ups started.”

People started standing up as Amity spoke. “First thing, on that table over there” the mint haired girl pointed. “You’ll find the music you will need for warm ups and the first version of the first movement of the show music. Section leaders, grab all the music for your instrument. Everyone else, get in arcs. Flutes and piccolos in the front, clarinets and saxes in the second row, and brass in the back. Make sure each of you gets a music stand, and that you are standing with your section.” With that people started to disperse, most people finding their spot in the arcs. Luz separates with Willow and Gus, heading to the table to find her mellophone part. She locates it and finds that it is the only one. 

Luz scans over the warm up music as she walks to the last row of arcs, nearly running into someone but dodging at the last moment. She finds a spot at the very end of the last arc, standing next to a trumpet player with bright pink hair. The trumpet player takes one look at Luz, then scoffs and turns towards Amity, who is now on the director’s podium. 

“The music and what part you will play will be determined by the section leaders,” Amity stated to everyone. Luz doesn’t have to worry about that, but later on, when the trumpet section leader returns and hands out the music, the pink haired girl next to her takes one look at the music that she’s handed before immediately starting to protest. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me! Third trumpet? I deserve the first part!” The pink haired girl said, seething. The trumpet section leader just shrugged and continued handing out parts. “Once I tell Amity, she’ll definitely make sure I get the correct part,” she mumbles under her breath.

Luz decided it was best to stay out of whatever was going on there. She took a few more minutes to study the music, recognizing a lot of the warm ups.

After almost everyone was in their spots, Amity started rehearsal. “Alright everyone, let’s start with a simple long tones one. When I say ‘set’, you snap your instruments into a carry position, and after four clicks on the metronome you snap your instruments up to your face. The exercise begins after another four counts.” Luz was already confused and tried to watch what others did. “Set!” Amity commanded, and all of those with experience in marching band immediately lifted their instruments and held them out in front of them vertically. Luz tried to copy, but after only a few seconds Amity spoke again. “The mellophone section was too slow, we need to do that again, relax.” 

Some of the band groaned in annoyance while they went into a stand by position, and Luz immediately felt bad. The trumpet girl next to her shot Luz a mean glare. Luz’s face once again flushed red, and she tried to shrink in on herself. She knows she shouldn't have been called out on this since she’s new, but that doesn’t make her feel any better. She glances up to see Willow and Gus giving her an apologetic look, and then looks up to the drum major. “Set!” Luz hears again from Amity, and she puts her instrument in that carry position as fast as she can. She looks towards the trumpet section for reference on it, not quite sure if she has it down or not. 

After a few seconds of standing with her instrument held in front of her, a loud metronome breaks the silence, and it’s like suddenly everyone has their instrument up to their face before Luz can even think. Before anyone can make a sound, the metronome turns off and Amity cuts everyone off. “Once again, the mellophone section was unprepared, we need to start over. Relax.” Again? Luz has already felt humiliated enough, why does Amity keep pushing it? This time Luz tries to ignore that sinking feeling while she hears several more groans throughout the room. Luz needs to pay attention, she will pay attention this time.

“Set!” And Luz hastily puts her horn in a carry position. This time as the metronome sound came on, Luz watched closely to lift her instrument with everyone else. She saw the trumpet section raise their trumpets in near unison, and Luz reacts only a split second slower than everyone, but that shouldn't matter right? Well that didn't turn out to be the problem this time. The moment she snapped her horn up to a playing position, a loud metal clanking sound echoed throughout the room. She froze, realizing almost instantly what happened. How could one not when their mouthpiece had seemingly disappeared off of their instrument. The metronome sound ceased once again. Oh no. 

“You know, no matter how hard you try, you can’t play your mellophone when your mouthpiece is on the ground. You know that right?” This time, Amity spoke directly to Luz. The flush on Luz’s face has grown exponentially at this point as she turns around and searches for her mouthpiece which is somewhere on the floor. “Next time, screw it in tight enough so this won’t be a problem. And that goes for all brass players.” Luz soon locates the mouthpiece in question and screws it into her mellophone so hard that she knows it won’t come out by accident again. “Set!”

This time Luz is able to get to carry position, and then playing position with no troubles. After the Eighth click of the metronome, the band finally played their first note, holding it for eight counts, then resting for four before playing for eight more counts. This process is to be repeated for the rest of the exercise. In that first short four count rest Amity called out some feedback “Trumpets back off!” By the next rest she had more to say. This time directed at a certain Latina. “Mellophones listen to tuning.” By the third rest in the exercise, she cut off the warm up. “Sorry I cut you off early, the mellophone section was having some tuning troubles that stuck out.” Amity addressed the rest of the band. 

Okay, now Luz knows Amity is out to get her. For the rest of the warm up time, which is only around twenty more minutes, Luz gets called out for various things, be it not blending with the band, playing too quietly, or even missing a note. Luz breathed a sigh of relief when the Ms. Clawthorne took Amity’s place on the podium so she could work with the band herself. Amity went to work the metronome by hand for the rest of the block. That entire warm up time was just brutal. Willow and Gus both sent Luz pitying looks throughout. 

The rest of the three hour block was much better, Ms. Clawthorne seemed to show more mercy on Luz. Granted, Luz was having a lot of difficulty playing an instrument she's never played before. The weight of the instrument had also started catching up to her weak nerd arms, and soon she was having trouble keeping it up. Lilith ended the rehearsal time five minutes before schedule, pleased with how it went. 

Glad that music block was over, Luz will definitely need to work on mellophone with her lesson teacher. Luz doesn’t want to give Amity any reason to repeat what happened during warmups. People started filing into the band locker area. Luz moved with the crowd and managed to get to her locker with little difficulty. After her locker was open, granted it took a few tries as well as looking at the slip with the combo, Luz finally pulled out her mellophone case. It was then that another problem arose.

As Luz attempts to unscrew the mouthpiece that she had tightly screwed in earlier, she realizes that it wouldn’t budge. Pulling harder didn’t seem to work either. “Come on, you know you want to come out! Just earlier you flew off the mellophone.” Luz started mumbling to herself, working the mouthpiece off with all her strength. Her attempts were fruitless, and she wasn’t able to do it. “This is fine, I’ll just ask Willow and Gus to help.”

They couldn't do it. After each of them tried to unscrew the mouthpiece with all of their might, it didn’t move. Luz sighed and told Gus and Willow to go on without her while she got help from the band director. They left hesitantly, and Luz approached Ms. Clawthorne’s office. The door was open, and inside, Lilith sat filling out various papers. Luz knocked on the doorframe slightly to get her attention. 

“Ummm, Ms. Clawthorne, I uhh, I accidentally got my mouthpiece stuck…” Luz trailed off at the end and gave a sheepish look. Ms. Clawthorne nodded and motioned for Luz to step inside the office. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to, I just didn’t want it falling off again.” 

Lilith took the instrument from Luz and began to try unscrewing it herself. “It’s quite alright, just be more careful next time.” She gave up on trying to unscrew it by hand and pulled a tool out to work at it. “You got this really stuck in here.” Lilith stated as she used the small contraption to pull the mouthpiece out. “Here you are.” The instrument and mouthpiece were handed back to Luz.

“Thank you so much, I’ll do my best to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

“Very well, now you can head to lunch, you’ll be the last one there.” With that, Luz locks her instrument up in the locker and heads to the lunch area.

———-

There are tables spread throughout the cafeteria, which Luz finds after a few minutes of searching the school. Looking around at all the groups of friends having fun and reuniting after the summer made Luz feel like she didn’t quite fit in. Amity was nowhere in sight. Luz definitely wanted to have a talk with the drum major, and give Amity a piece of her mind. Willow and Gus sat at a table by themselves, chatting while they ate their lunch. Luz hesitantly walked in the direction of their table, and when Gus looked up to see Luz, he immediately waved her over. Relief washed over Luz and she couldn’t help but smile as she took a seat next to Willow.

“Ms. Clawthorne was able to get it out no problem?” Willow asked. 

“Yup, she used this weird tool to get it out. Said it was really stuck.” Taking out her lunch, Luz’s guilt was coming back. From not paying attention when she had to introduce herself, to all the times Amity stopped warm ups because of her, to when she had to get help with her mouthpiece. It’s like the day was cursed. Then again, Luz hardly makes a good first impression on anyone. 

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Willow spoke. “Hey, are you okay after the warm ups? I know how terrible it feels to be called out, but what Amity did was just mean.” The worried look on Willow’s face is evident, and it makes Luz feel even worse. She doesn’t want to worry anyone, it makes her feel like a burden.

“Um, yeah I’m good. Are guys sure you're okay with me sitting here? I’ve made such a fool of myself, I feel like I’m dragging you two down too.” As Luz said this, Willow and Gus quickly started arguing with that.

“No! You’re not dragging us down, we really enjoy your company!” Willow starts. 

“Yeah!” Gus added on enthusiastically, not exactly good with what to say in this situation. He’ll leave Willow to do most of the talking. 

“Look, Luz, no matter how bad you feel and how many mistakes you make, those don’t define you. From just today, I can tell that you’re a very kind and caring person who has big dreams. Neither of us care about how others might see you, because we see you as our friend.” As Willow finished, Luz’s eyes widened as she looked between the two. Gus has been nodding along to what Willow was saying.

“Friend? Y- you really mean it?” Luz said in disbelief. 

Willow sent Luz a smile. “Of course we do, as long as you want to be our friend...”

As Willow trailed off, Luz nearly tackled Willow in a hug. Willow giggled a bit before hugging Luz back. When Luz released Willow, she slid across the top of the table to Gus’s side and pulled him into a tight hug as well. Once the hugs ceased, Luz beamed with joy. “Thank you two so much. I know it may sound weird, but I haven’t had friends in a long time.”

“No need to thank us, we could be thanking you for being our friend but I feel like there’s a mutual thing here.” The rest of lunch flew by as Luz excitedly spoke to her new friends about all sorts of things that came to her mind. For once in her life, Luz finally felt she actually belonged somewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I put Luz through a lot, but at least she’s got her new best buddies. Also a lot of these events are based off of stuff that happened to me my first and second years of marching band... yes I would get called out for being to slow to raise my trumpet.


	3. Lesson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz has a music lesson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y’all enjoy!

When lunch ends, there is only three hours of rehearsal left. The final three hours will be movement and exercise. It’s to keep the body in shape and prepared for when actual marching is taught. The movement/marching instructor is named Azura, a young woman who graduated college a few years prior. She just goes by her first name, saying it’s weird when she’s called by her last name. Luz quickly took a liking to this instructor. Azura was very bubbly yet helpful throughout the rest of rehearsal. By the end of the three hours, Luz actually felt good about what she learned.

Fortunately for Luz, Amity’s job for the entire movement block was metronome duty. Luz would occasionally peer back to see the mint haired girl, bored look on her face as she waited for Azura to start another exercise. 

Finally, at the end of the day, Luz headed to her band locker to collect her mellophone to take home and practice. Willow and Gus visited her at her locker after they finished packing up for the day.

“Hey Luz, wanna exchange numbers so we can make a groupchat?” Willow asked. Luz beamed and handed her phone to Willow to add the contact. 

“That would be great!” Luz exclaimed. Willow sent a quick text to herself before handing Luz’s phone back. 

“Great, well we gotta get going, we’re carpooling and Gus’s dad is probably waiting. If you ever need a ride, I’m sure our parents would be ok with it.”

“Thank you two SO MUCH,” Luz almost couldn’t handle the amount of gratitude she felt for them. She pulled both of them into one last hug before they left. 

The phone that Luz had pocketed vibrated and she saw a message from her mom. She’s going to be late. It’s only around fifteen extra minutes Luz had to wait, and in that time, she just studies her music more. May as well become as familiar with it as possible before her lesson tonight. 

——

“Luz! How was your first day at camp?” Camila had finally arrived. She sounded a little worried at what Luz may have to say about her day, but hoped for the best. 

Before answering the question, Luz slid into the front seat. As she closed the door, she turned to her mami, a grin lighting up her face. “I think I’m gonna like it here.”

——

The car ride home consisted of Luz excitedly giving her mom a run down on all the good things that happened, neglecting to mention Amity. Hopefully by tomorrow, Luz’s Amity problem will have dissipated. 

Camila was truly proud of her daughter for making the day a success, and for making some new friends. She gladly voiced these thoughts, letting Luz know just how relieved and proud of her she was. 

By the time they got home, Luz was still rambling on about her day, not that Camila minded at all. 

“So, you got a lesson with that teacher of yours today?” Camila asked as they stepped through the threshold of the house. 

“Yeah! I’m gonna focus on mellophone today so I will be as prepared as possible tomorrow.” Luz explained excitedly.

Camila smiled down at her before saying “Remember to thank her again. It’s very kind of that lady to give you free lessons, you know?” 

Luz nodded. “I know, but they were her idea in the first place. I should probably head over now, she said to come by when rehearsal ended.” Luz dropped off her lunch bag and water before heading back to the door. “I should be back in around two hours.”

“Alright, I’ll have dinner ready when you get home. Adios, mija. Te quiero!” 

Luz took that as her queue to leave. Camila heard a faint “te quiero mami,” right before the door closed. 

——

The muffled sound of jazz could be heard coming from the house right across the street, and got louder the closer Luz got. As she lugged the mellophone to the door, Luz promptly opened the door, and the music became a clear, articulate sound filling the silence. 

A voice from another room could be heard. “Luz is here! Finally!” The sound of footsteps neared as Luz closed the door behind herself. “Luz! We’ve been so bored! Wanna jam out with me?” A short man with scraggly dark hair made his appearance.

“Hey King! I’d absolutely love to jam with you, but maybe later, I really need Eda’s help.” Luz saw the man’s face drop a bit. “Hey, I promise, as soon as I’m free, we’ll have a Luz and King jazz hour. It might have to be a different day, but it will happen.” A smile grew on King’s face as he agreed to those terms. 

Luz quickly slipped past King and into a hallway. The music room was just two doors down, and as she stepped in, she relaxed. This was the room where she learned it all. Ever since she was a young kid, this has been the room where she has been taught how to be a musician. While still far from professional level, Luz knows that one day, her dream will come true. 

Luz spotted the large gray mane of hair that dawns her lesson teacher. Without hesitation Luz dropped her instrument case to the ground and launched herself forward. “Eeeeedddaaaaa!” She wrapped her arms tightly around the woman in front of her.

“Ugghh why do you always do this. I don’t get it.” As she said this, Luz’s lesson teacher lightly hugged her student back. “Okay okay, that’s enough.” Luz pulled back and ran back to her instrument.

“Eda Eda Eda, I need your help!” Luz quickly started opening her instrument case. 

“Okay, one, slow down, we got time. And two, what the heck is that!” Eda exclaimed pointing towards Luz’s newest instrument. 

“It’s a mellophone, it’s what I’m playing for this year's marching season,” Luz explained while taking the instrument out. A disgusted look grew on her teacher’s face. 

“No! Noooo! I cannot let my favorite student be seen with one of those.” The disgusted look on Eda’s face shifted into one of pure resentment as she stared at the offending instrument. 

“Um, what’s wrong with mellophones?” Luz asked slightly confused, looking down at the brass. 

“What’s wrong with mellophones?! They’re terrible, that’s what. They are said to be what horn players are supposed to march with, yet they are just some trumpet-horn hybrid that brings down the quality of both. I mean, just pick a side!” Eda began her rant before it was cut off.

“Well you know I can’t pick a side, being bi and all,” Luz said cheekily. 

Eda caught on and grinned. “Me neither kid, hah” she said, slapping her knee. “That’s besides the point though,” she said more seriously. “Mellophones are stinky and gross. I’d ask to switch immediately.”

“Okay, I did not know you hated mellophones so much, but I can’t just switch! I promised my band director I’d play it for the season since there are no others. They really needed someone to play the part,” Luz tried to explain. 

“I don’t know kid, it’s only been one day, there’s still time to get a new one.” Luz gave Eda a pleading look, and dang it, how can Eda resist the puppy eyes. “Okay fine. I’ll help you with mellophone.” A victorious whoop left Luz’s mouth before Eda cut her off. “In return for helping you with this, however, I expect that you keep up on your other instruments. No getting behind, you hear me?”

Luz immediately agreed to those terms. “Yes, Ms. Eda, I won’t let you down.”

“Ew don’t call me that, kid. You know better.” 

The lesson began with Eda giving tips on how to hold the instrument properly, then some warm ups. As Eda led Luz through the music, she was given a lot of feedback. Unlike Amity, Eda gave her tips on how to improve, and worked on one thing each warm up. 

During long tones, Luz focused on hitting the note in tune, and holding it in tune until the cut off. Lip slurs had her focus on just hitting the right note, even if it wasn’t in time. Major and chromatic scales helped get her used to the new fingerings on the mellophone. The instrument is in the key of F, like a horn, but uses trumpet fingerings, even though trumpets are in the key of Bb. This makes it difficult to play the right pitch on the first try for every note as well as using the correct fingerings. 

They then moved onto the show music. It wasn’t too complicated, but it would make Luz feel better to at least have looked at it before they started rehearsing it in class. 

After an hour, Luz’s face is thoroughly tired out. She has been playing quite a bit throughout the day, and her lips felt like they would fall off. “Don’t worry about that, kid. By the end of band camp, you’ll be able to play for way longer. Marching band really helps build those lip muscles, which can also improve your trumpet and horn playing.” Eda remembered back in the day when she did marching band. Back in her glory days, she won tons of band awards, and had even gotten accepted into a drum corps, which she ended up not being able to go to for reasons that she doesn’t like to remember. 

“So,” Luz started after putting the mellophone down. “Would you like to hear about my first day?” Luz asked, an eager glint in her eye.

“Do I have a choice?” 

“Nope!” Luz said, enthusiastically. Eda just rolled her eyes and motioned for Luz to talk.

Luz talked about the friends she’d made, as well as her awesome movement teacher, Azura. She was about to mention the incident of her mouthpiece getting stuck before remembering the question she had wanted to ask Eda earlier regarding Ms. Clawthorne.

“Eda, I just remembered something. So I’m going to a new high school this year, Hexside high, and I think you may know the band director there.” Luz started.

“Oh no, I hope it’s not anyone from my high school years, everyone hated me back then. Probably were all jealous of my skills of course, but still. Why do you think I’d know your band director?”

Luz looked hesitant before saying “Well she actually shares the same last name as you. Do you know a Lilith Clawthorne?” Eda’s eyes widened in recognition.

“Lily? She’s a band director now? Hm. Go figures. She always did like bossing people around,” Eda sneered.

“So you do know her! Is she your sister?” Luz excitedly asked. 

“Yeah, you could say that. A sorry excuse for one, but still my sister.”

“Oh! Mysterious past! Tell me more!” Luz urged Eda on, to which Eda shot an almost pained look toward Luz.

“I don’t really wanna talk about Lily right now, maybe some other time.” Eda said, looking away. “Anything else notable happen today that doesn’t involve my sister?”

Luz could hear the seriousness in Eda’s voice and decided not to push. She didn’t like seeing Eda this way. “Well I did get called out by the drum major a lot,” Luz began, trying to change the sore subject. 

Eda looked up at Luz questioningly. “Why would the drum major need to call you out?”

“I have no idea! She just kept stopping us for dumb things and blaming stuff on me! It was like if I lifted my instrument a moment late, she was on my case. If I was even slightly out of tune, she’d pause the warm up just to call me out.” As Luz goes on, her eyes begin to tear up. Remembering these particular events from the day still hurt. “I didn’t even really know what I was doing! How was I supposed to know all of this! I’ve never done marching band before!”

“Stop right there kid. From what I’m hearing, this drum major was acting very out of line, irresponsible even, for calling a rookie like you out like that. Did she ever work to improve anything that she called you out for?” Luz shook her head no. “Well then that’s a problem. I would tell you to let the band director know about this behavior, but knowing Lily, she’d just let it happen and say it’s good discipline. I suggest just going up to your drum major and trying to set things right. People like her are bullies, so if you want to make sure it doesn’t happen again, you’ve gotta be bold, and not back down. Got it, kid?” Eda looked down to see Luz wiping her eyes.

“Got it. Tomorrow I’m gonna march right up to Amity, and tell her to stop calling me out.” Luz attempted to put on an intimidating face. (It absolutely failed)

“There’s the Luz I know, you’ll set things right. Maybe even make a friend. Who knows?” Eda saw Luz’s face lighting up.

“You really think so?”

“I’d say a 50/50 chance,” Eda said uncertainly, and Luz gave an unamused look. “Just messin’ with you kiddo.” Eda ruffled Luz’s hair a bit. “Is there anything else you wanna work on today?”

“Not today, my face is still in pain from all the practicing, and I still got a week to finish my music theory work you gave me. I still have half an hour though…” Luz trailed off.

“Well I heard that King learned a new song. I’m sure he’d love to share it,” Eda suggested. After seeing Luz nod animatedly, she called for King. “Hey King! I think Luz would like to hear the song you’ve been working on!” 

Speedy footsteps could be heard and King appeared in the doorway. “Really?!” His eyes were shining as he sat down at his keyboard. “I’m ready to play.”

“Don’t you at least have to warm up first?” Eda asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“The King of music is always ready to perform!” King looks to Luz. “Ready to hear my instrumental mastery?” Luz scoots a chair next to the keyboard and gives a thumbs up. As the first few notes are played, Luz finds herself entranced by the music. What she sees looks insanely complicated, probably because she doesn't play piano and just seeing the amount of coordination it takes in his hands leaves her wondering how it’s even humanly possible to move your hands like that. The piece itself is upbeat and fast, and differs from King’s usual jazzy piano playing. She fidgets in excitement watching and listening to the musical performance. 

It’s around seven minutes before King finally plays his last chord, and Luz applauds him, delighted. He stands up and bows, as if to a real audience. “That was great, King!”

A surprised look quickly passes over his face before his pride takes over. “Of course it was! What did you expect? A not great performance?” Luz shakes her head, grinning.

“I still got a bit of time left, would you like to maybe jam out for a few minutes?” King nods enthusiastically. “That is, if Eda lets me borrow a saxophone.” The two turn to Eda, who rolls her eyes and tells Luz to use the alto. They both cheer before Luz starts assembling the saxophone from the case in the corner of the music room. 

“Luckily, I always keep a few reeds here,” Luz said, fishing out a reed from inside the case. “Aha! Here it is!” She takes a minute to wet the reed before putting it into the ligature. She plays a few warm up notes before turning to King. 

“You know the changes for ‘So What’ on alto, right?” King asked. Luz nodded, having memorized quite a few Miles Davis pieces on alto and trumpet. “Ready when you are.”

“Let’s go!” With that, the two began their short jam session, having fun with the improvisation as well as just having time to play together. Eda watched on, impressed. She was never very good at jazz, Luz was probably already better than she’d ever be. Luz’s skill would all be thanks to King, who teaches her jazz on the side when she’s got spare time. Eda never showed interest whenever King offered, but she thought it could definitely be a useful skill for Luz to learn. 

Time seemed to pass quickly, and Luz saw that it was finally time to leave. “Thank you both so much! Especially you Eda, I know you don’t like mellophones but you still helped me anyway.” Luz has always been extremely grateful for the two. Ever since Eda had started taking Luz in for lessons, Luz finally found something she’s truly passionate about. 

“Hey, you say thanks every time, you still don’t need to, we love having you over. You honestly give this place more life than we ever do,” Eda said.

“Aww, well I’m still going to thank you because it’s the right thing to do,” Luz replied back.

After all the instruments were packed up and she set her stuff next to the door, she turned back to Eda and King. She gave them a sheepish look and Eda rolled her eyes one more time. “Fine, just one more hug.” She knows how Luz is with her endless hugs and need for affection. Eda also knew that she herself loved to see the way Luz’s face beamed with joy when she had said that. Luz brought Eda and King into a big bear hug, King happily accepting. Eda was still getting used to all this affection, even after years of hugs from Luz. 

“Okay, time for dinner, I’ll be back in two days for another lesson at around the same time.” Luz turned back and grabbed her stuff.

Eda nodded, saying “Sounds right. I wanna hear how that drum major situation goes.” 

“Will do! Goodbye you two! Love you guys!” Luz waved before walking back to the front door and outside. She felt ready for tomorrow, definitely more prepared, and now she had a plan to talk to Amity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the mellophone hate, Eda’s view on mellophones are actually based off of my own horn lesson teacher’s views on them.
> 
> You may have noticed that a lot of the dialogue is based off of the dialogue in the show, and I have a lot of fun repurposing that dialogue to work for this fic. 
> 
> Finally, my upload schedule will hopefully be at least one chapter every 2-5 days, depending on what I’m focusing on at that time.


	4. An Attempt was Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans fail, new plans are made.

Rays of sunlight cast through the windows of the bedroom. A vibration next to her caused Luz to jolt awake. The phone on her nightstand buzzed again as Luz picked it up. Only thirty minutes until rehearsal starts. A message from Willow and an unknown number are displayed on the screen, probably Gus. 

Willow: Hey you two ready for rehearsal today?

Probably Gus: Yeet is the other number luz?

Willow: Yeah.

As these texts appeared, Luz smiled, remembering her two new friends from the day before. 

Luz: yo

Luz: i just got outta bed

While the text conversation continued, Luz quickly got ready for the day and found her mom downstairs. Camila had prepacked Luz’s lunch, similar to the day previous. “Morning, Mija,” she greeted Luz. “Your rehearsal starts in twenty right?”

Luz checked the time and confirmed. The drive was only seven minutes so it seemed she had a little time. She got herself a snack as breakfast and filled her water bottles. By the time she was out the door, only ten minutes remained until rehearsal, just enough time to get there before it started. Maybe she’d even get to talk to Amity a few minutes before rehearsal. 

———

Right as Luz was arriving at the school, a text came in. 

Willow: Luz where are you!?!

Willow: Rehearsal’s about to start!

Tilting her head in confusion, Luz got out of the car and typed out a reply.

Luz: I still got 3 minutes tho

Willow: Get in here quick

Oh. Luz quickly grabbed her stuff, said a quick goodbye and thanks to her mother, and ran as quickly as she could to the school. Still lugging the mellophone around, Luz was slowed down quite a bit. ‘I’m going to be on time, why does Willow make it seem so urgent?’ Luz thinks. ‘We were told to be early yesterday, but that’s just because of the first day. I’m going to be on time from when they said rehearsal starts today.’ 

Luz found the band room soon after entering Hexside, and threw open the doors. She froze at the door frame when she saw everyone already in arcs ready to go. Everyone turned to look at her, and Luz saw a smug looking Amity, who was already on the podium ready to start rehearsal. Yeah there definitely wouldn’t be time to talk to the drum major. 

Luz felt her face burning as she walked around the group and went into the band locker area. ‘Why is everyone already here and ready?’ Luz checked the time and saw she still had a minute before rehearsal was scheduled to start. By the time she had everything ready and stepped back into the band room, Amity had already started warm ups. Luz quickened her pace and found her spot in the arc, only now there was no music stand out for her. Luz looked around the band room in confusion, and was unable to locate where the stands were kept. 

By the time the first warm up ended, Luz had begun walking around the room aimlessly trying to find a spare music stand. The voice that Luz had been dreading to hear spoke up. “Looks like our mellophone section can’t even show up to rehearsal on time.” Luz stopped, knowing she’d been caught. 

Trying to defend herself, Luz finally speaks back. “Uh, actually rehearsal was scheduled to start right around when I got here.” Luz’s voice was shaky but she tried to keep it even. 

She saw Amity give her a cocky look before she replied. “Actually, if you had been paying attention to Ms. Clawthorne yesterday, you would know to show up at least five minutes early to every rehearsal.” Her voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard to Luz. “In this band program, our motto is ‘to be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late? Well to be late is to be dead’. And if you had been on time, you would also know that the music stands are located in the closet by the band director’s office.”

Mortified, Luz found her way to the music stand closet, hearing some snickers on the way. On her way back to her spot, Amity waited, not continuing warm ups until Luz was ready. Luz saw Willow, who looked to be seething at Amity. Gus was trying to send Luz some comforting looks, but it didn’t help much. 

The hope that Luz held on to that rehearsal today would not be like the previous day’s was already looking bleak. Since Luz had no personal warm up time before Amity continued, her sound was very sharp and airy. 

Amity did not hold back on the criticism today either. 

———

Today, after Amity had ended warm ups, Lilith once again took over but this time, she had something different planned. 

“Today, students, we will be breaking out into sectionals. This is where we are just working with our sections, and the sectional leaders are to run these. Today, just work on memorizing the warm ups that Amity worked on with you all earlier. We will be splitting up now.” Luz looked around and saw each section gathering closer together. Luz doesn’t have a section leader…

Lilith spoke up again to solve this problem. “For today, we will be spitting up into low brass, high brass, and woodwinds. Later on when we work on show music, we will split into individual sections but for now, just stick with your instrument group. High brass can go to the cafeteria, low brass can go outside, and woodwinds stay in here.” A cheer came from the woodwinds. Luz watched the trumpets pick their stands up and head for the door, to which Luz quickly followed. 

Sectionals were actually rather fun for Luz. They introduced themselves, and the trumpet section leader, Adaghast, was very kind towards the stray mellophone. That pink haired girl from the day prior, however, seemed to barely be paying attention, staring down at her phone. When she had to introduce herself, she begrudgingly said her name was Boscha, not looking up from her phone. The trumpet section was large, consisting of nine total compared to the one and only mellophone. 

While leading warm ups, Adaghast gave helpful feedback, and taught good strategies on how to memorize the warm ups. A breath of fresh air after Amity. 

———

Sectionals ended after an hour, and the rest of music rehearsal was spent with Lilith reviewing what everyone did in sectionals, but with the full group. Lunch was soon upon them, and Luz could finally relax. Her arms had still been sore from holding up the mellophone so much. 

Luz met up with Gus and Willow in the band room after visiting her locker. This time there were no mouthpiece problems. 

Once within talking range Willow started. “Hey Luz, we hope you're doing alright after warm ups again.” Luz forced a smile and nodded but Willow seemed unsure. “Also, we’re sorry for not reminding you to get here early, it didn’t even cross my mind.”

“Willow it’s not your fault, nor yours Gus,” Luz said looking to Gus. “I should have been listening to Ms. Clawthorne, I’ll make sure to be early from now on.” The others nodded and started talking about their sectionals. Luz was happy for the distraction, before remembering that now was the time to talk to Amity, if she could find the drum major that was.

“Hey, do you guys know where Amity goes during lunch?” Luz asked. The other two turned to her. 

“Well, yesterday she ate in the cafeteria for only a few minutes before heading back to the band room. I’m not sure why,” Willow recalled. 

Gus nodded and said “Probably some drum major thing I guess.”

“Oh, then I should find her as soon as possible. I need to ask her some stuff.” Luz said all this in a determined voice, full of fake confidence. 

Willow’s eyes widened. “Luz, I know you want things to get better, but Amity can be hard to talk to. Just, be careful okay? I don’t want her hurting you anymore than she has, alright?”

Luz could hear the worry in her voice. “Hey, trust me. I’ll just use some of the good old Noceda charm and she’s bound to lay off on all the comments in class.” 

Willow giggled a bit before saying “Who could resist that Noceda charm? Certainly not our drum major who doesn’t understand that rookies are new to marching band and don’t deserve to be called out every five seconds. Like seriously, she doesn’t seem to have an ounce of compassion.” 

“Yeah, but I have to believe that she has some common decency. Now I gotta go find her, see you two after!” Luz said, starting to jog to the cafeteria.

Luz heard “Good luck!” called after her. 

———

The cafeteria was already quite full. Luz scanned the room looking towards every table. It wasn’t hard to pick out the green hair sitting at a quite full table. At it, Amity sat next to the pink haired trumpet player. There were some others from the band that Luz didn’t recognize as well as some of the members of the color guard.

‘Well, looks like I’ll have to do this in front of her friends’, Luz thought while heading right toward the table. Once she was close enough, she saw the utterly adorable lunch box Amity was pulling food out of. It was light pink and had the face of a dog with droopy ears sticking out. 

Luz was a few feet away before she realized that she had forgotten almost all of what she had planned to say. She was considering turning back, but it was too late, as the golden yellow eyes belonging to the drum major locked with Luz’s own chocolate brown ones. 

Luz suddenly froze up, attempting to open her mouth and talk, but no words came out. Before she could even force one word out the other started speaking. “Can I help you?” Amity asked in a sickly sweet tone, clearly trying to cover up her annoyance. 

Luz hesitated before saying “Well, I was wondering if I could talk to you?” 

Amity gave a bored look. “Well you’re already talking to me, aren’t you?” Luz was a bit taken aback at first by how rude this near stranger was being to her, and decided she was gonna have none of it. 

“Okay Amity, I just want to know why you’re being so mean. You don’t even know me! Why do you keep calling me out in class?” Luz stepped closer to Amity. A few snickers could be heard from the others at the table, who had all turned their attention to Luz.

Amity rolled her eyes before locking them down on Luz again. “I only call you out when it’s necessary, it’s not my fault you can’t play your instrument well, or even get to rehearsal on time. It’s my job to let you know what needs improving.” As Luz listened to Amity, she began seething.

“Well I’ve literally been playing the mellophone for two days! You can’t expect me to be good at it yet!”

“Yes, so it is essential that I let you know in class what you need to work on outside of rehearsal. Clearly you’ve barely improved since yesterday, and until I don’t hear any more problems, I’ll continue to give you reminders in class.” Amity said this all in a calm and collected voice, starting to turn back to her food. 

Luz glared at the drum major, who was now taking a bite of her sandwich, done with this conversation. Luz wasn’t done, however. “That doesn’t mean you have to say all this in front of the class every day and humiliate me! Maybe find me after class, or at least don’t make everyone else stop playing just to call me out. And when you do call me out, you don’t even give me tips to fix it!” Amity calmly set down her sandwich and stood up, taking a step closer to Luz. She was just an inch shorter than Luz, but that didn’t make her any less intimidating. 

“Listen here, I won’t have you, a rookie, telling me how I should run warm ups. This band program is one of the best in the state, and I am not going to make it easy for slackers to thrive. I will not let there be any weak links in this band, and until you learn to actually play your instrument, I will have failed, and I never fail.” Her voice is dripping venom. Luz takes a step back, to which Amity steps forward, leaning in close to Luz’s face. “If you want me to start helping you fix any criticisms I may have, then I’ll gladly do so. From now on, anytime I hear you play something off, I’ll have you play it alone, for everyone to hear. Then I’ll work with you until we get it, because apparently you don’t even know how to fix problems yourself. Is that what you want?” 

Tears had started to well up in Luz’s eyes, and she tried desperately to suppress them. Amity had finally leaned away. Luz could feel her throat was very congested and knew that if she tried to talk, it’d result in her crying in front of Amity and her friends, who were now laughing out loud. Luz resorted to shaking her head no, as a response to Amity’s question. Having to play alone just to work on some dumb thing Amity calls out during rehearsal would make things even worse. 

Once Amity saw Luz shaking her head, barely keeping in tears, she responded, her voice a bit softer, sounding guilty. “Alright, I won’t make you play alone in class, but I don’t want to hear anymore complaints on how I run warm ups. Okay?” Amity gave a slightly regretful look before almost immediately shifting to her usual neutral face. 

Luz quickly nodded, eyes drifting down in shame. There was no way of winning this argument, so she spun around and left, bumping into a table on her way back. A chorus of laughter came from behind her and she attempted to tune it out. 

Embarrassment started welling up inside her, and she nearly let tears escape. Then, she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. Confused, she spun around to see two tall upperclassmen, a guy and a girl, both of them smirking. The two had blonde hair, and similar facial features. 

“You really gonna let her get to ya like that?” The boy said. Luz looked at them confused, before wiping at her eyes to clear her tears.

“Umm, who are you?” Luz asked.

This time the girl spoke. “Oh, we’re Mittens’ older siblings, I’m Emira, and this is Edric.” She gestured between them. “We both play trombone. We’d like to talk with you.”

“Mittens?” Luz asked, once again confused. 

“Amity, but we just call her Mittens, she’s our baby sis,” Emira, stated. “And we heard what she said to you back there. We’re sorry about her, she can be very cold, which is why we’d like to ask for your help with something.” 

“Okay, ummm, what is it?” Luz took the bait. 

“Let’s head somewhere else, don’t want anyone to hear of our great plan,” Edric said pushing Luz a bit in the direction of an empty hallway. Luz timidly followed, still unsure where this was going. Once in the hall and away from prying eyes, the twins turned to face Luz. 

“Look, Mittens is a bit of a stickler for the rules, and can honestly be pretty mean,” Edric started. “She’s always getting Em and me in trouble for stuff.”

Emira nodded before she continued for him. “And we were wondering if you’d like to help us pull a prank on our dear baby sister tomorrow?” 

“A prank? How would that help anything?” Luz wondered.

The two smirked before Edric started talking again. “You see, Luz, if we can get Amity in trouble, she’ll be getting a taste of her own good. She might even loosen up on you in class. We see how brutal she is on you.” Edric’s voice became sympathetic. 

Luz looked down at the ground again, considering this. It’s just a prank right? And if it will help tone Amity down in class, that would definitely be a plus. Maybe Amity does deserve to get in trouble for once. Luz looked up at both the twins, who looked almost desperate. Luz finally decided to answer. “Alright I’m in, what do you need me to do?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. Okay so stuff happened. I’m considering writing a later chapter from Amity’s perspective, I think it’d give y’all a better understanding on why she’s acting like this. 
> 
> Random incorrect quote-  
> Willow: Who could resist that Noceda charm? Certainly not our drum major who’s a big gay disaster!  
> (That was the original line but it definitely wouldn’t flow with the story.)
> 
> Also poor Luz, no hugs this chapter. Things will get better, but they’ve gotta get worse before that. 
> 
> I hope Y’all enjoyed! I always love any comments. If you got any questions I’ll answer any. If you want, you can go follow my Twitter at @/CrispyFriedCass


	5. The Prank

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins are depending on Luz to pull their plan off.

To say Luz is unsure is an understatement. She’d almost arrived at the school for her third day of band camp(more than five minutes early), and her nervous shaking caught the attention of her mother. 

“Everything alright, mija?” Luz looked over, unsure. 

Ever since the twins had fully explained their planned prank, Luz had been very iffy. She knew it’d be a really mean thing to do, but if it worked, Amity would get in trouble and hopefully lay off. At the time, Luz was desperate and agreed soon after it was propositioned. But after a good night’s rest, she can’t stop thinking about how wrong it could go. 

“Mija?” Her mother asked. The car slowed to a halt. 

Luz quickly snapped out of her thoughts before responding. “I’m okay, just hoping today goes well.” 

Camila noticed how her child seemed uncomfortable, and opened her mouth to say something, but before she could Luz had already opened the car door and was climbing out. 

Luz cut the goodbyes short today and hurried to the band room. 

———

The room is nearly half full, and Luz headed straight to the stand closet. She was intercepted on the way there by the two twins she had been dreading. 

“Heya there, Luz,” Edric had begun. 

Emira then took her turn to talk. “You still know the plan?” Luz looked away and nodded slowly. 

“Good! We’re counting on you, thank you so much for agreeing,” Emira brought her voice down a bit to ensure Amity didn’t hear. 

“Yeah, of course.” Luz’s voice wavered a bit but the twins didn’t notice. 

“When this works, Mittens will definitely get in trouble.” Ed sounded unnaturally excited for this occurrence. 

“It’s what she deserves,” Em agreed. Luz was about to walk off but Em quickly stopped her. 

“Wait, Luz!” Em quickly took out a slip of paper to hand to the one in question. “Almost forgot, here’s Mittens’s locker combo. You know what to do. You’ll only have a few minutes, so don’t mess this up.” 

Luz hesitantly took the paper and the twins were gone without another word. Hiding it in her pocket, Luz continued to the stand closet, now even more conflicted. 

Those two were really counting on her for this, and so confident it would work. They don’t even see how it could go wrong, or even how it is definitely a bad thing to do. ‘But Amity deserves it, right? It’ll give her a taste of what it’s like to be the one getting in trouble.’ She thinks. 

Luz is doing all she can to ignore that nagging in her head that thinks what she plans on doing is wrong. ‘If her siblings don’t think it’s going too far, then it isn’t.’

———

Finally being earlier to rehearsal had its perks. Luz was able to talk to Willow and Gus for a few minutes, which helped distract her. She was also able to play a few notes and tune. She knows that Amity will still call her our no matter what, but may as well try. 

“Alright, everyone in arcs, rehearsal is starting!” Speak of the devil. “Ms. Clawthorne would like to speak to us before I start rehearsal.” 

Lilith took her stand on the podium after Amity had stepped down. “Good morning, students. I would like to congratulate you all for making it to your last day of marching band pre-camp. The next two weeks will be our full eleven hour days where we rehearse the actual show and prepare for performance.”

Luz listens carefully, and is surprised. ‘These last two days were just pre-camp?” She wondered. Felt like Amity was taking it way too seriously. 

“Marching band camp begins tomorrow, Thursday. Three Saturdays from now will be our first performance, in front of only family and friends. It’ll be every day of the week with Sundays off, starting at the same time but ending four hours later. Make sure your parents are notified of this and that you bring an extra meal for dinner every day.”

Luz isn’t sure that works with her mother’s schedule and grows worried. She’ll ask about it after rehearsal. 

“School starts the Monday after our first performance, and you will be given the rehearsal schedules for during the school year on the last day of camp. Thank you for listening. Miss Blight may now start warm ups.”

After Lilith ended her short speech, she stepped down and Amity stepped up. “Get out long tones one please,” she started. A few groans were heard in response to the rather boring warm up. 

They were only a few notes in before Amity decided to call Luz out. “Mellophones, blend.” Luz did what she could to adjust, trying to play a bit louder, but the instructions weren’t exactly clear. The exercise was cut off. “The mellophone section was sticking out and not blending with the rest of the band. Let’s try again.”

Luz still felt a twinge of guilt bubble up. She looked to Willow, who gave her a solemn look, one that Luz was beginning to get used to. The day prior, Luz told her two friends about her disastrous attempt at talking with the drum major. They were very sympathetic towards the situation and really wanted to do something for the rookie. 

After a few minutes, Luz had already been called out three times. 

“Mellos, too loud again.” This time Amity called Luz out, however, something different happened. 

“Oh Miss Blight,” was heard from the other side of the arc. Luz turned to see an innocent looking Edric beside an equally innocent Emira. “Didn’t you hear us dear trombones over here frack that note?”

“Yeah, and I think Ed was playing too loud as well, that is, after he missed his note.” Ed turned to glare at his sister before she elbowed him. 

He quickly turned back to his baby sister. “Yeah Mittens, didn’t you hear how out of tune Emira was playing? Even I could hear it.” A few people snickered at the nickname.

Looking back to Amity, Luz almost burst out laughing at the dark scarlet her face had become. 

‘Wait! This is the cue!’ Luz quickly realized. She made sure that Amity’s full attention was on the twins before sneaking towards the band locker hallway. 

“Well if you guys are noticing your own mistakes, then fix them!” was heard from an agitated Amity, indicating Luz hadn’t been spotted. 

Before fully leaving the room, she heard “Well we can’t do that without your help, baby sis.” The snickers increased as the door closed silently behind Luz.

———

Silence surrounded Luz as she swiftly started searching for the locker. Taking out the slip of paper, she made a mental note of the number as she finally came across Amity’s locker.

Hastily, she kneeled down and began fiddling with the lock, trying not to think about what she was about to do. It was smart of the twins to assign Luz to this job so that Amity doesn’t see what happened and immediately blame them. 

The locker opens and inside sits a single instrument case, as well as that adorable puppy lunch box. The instrument case itself is made of a soft material and looks very expensive, but what’s inside is bound to be worth more than anything Luz owns. 

Pulling out the case, Luz made quick work of opening it, and as she finally saw the instrument inside, her breath hitched. A perfectly polished and well taken care of french horn that almost looked brand new was revealed from within the case. The twins had let her know that money wasn’t much of an issue in their family, but this instrument really put that in perspective. 

Amity’s personal french horn, which the twins had told Luz she practiced religiously, was now in the hands of the latina. 

Now with what she was supposed to do with it. 

Just looking at the beautiful instrument made Luz regret even thinking this was okay. But she promised the twins, she’s got to do this. Luz carefully picked the instrument up and took a moment to observe it. It really was a gorgeous instrument, and definitely didn’t deserve what she was assigned to do. 

All Luz had to do was get a few dents in, preferably break a valve so that it requires being fixed. If Amity had to approach her parents with a broken instrument and no excuse, she would most certainly get in huge trouble. 

Still kneeling, Luz raised the instrument a few feet from the ground and prepared to drop it, yet deep inside her, Luz knew she wouldn’t. She couldn’t hurt this beautiful instrument, especially knowing how much it meant to Amity based off of what the twins had told her. 

They told her about how Amity leaves lunch early just to practice, and that at least a few hours every day is dedicated to her hard work. Amity took responsibility over the instrument, and cared about it more than it seemed anything else. 

As Luz was thinking all these things, her arms wavered, still holding the instrument up. A wave of shame rushed over her. No one deserves this. Not even Amity. ‘What was I thinking?’ Luz thought to herself. 

She needs to fix this, just put the instrument away and pretend nothing happened. Luz brought the horn closer to her and took just a moment more to look at it. ‘If Amity plays french horn, does that mean she was the mellophone last year?’ Luz considered. ‘Is that why she’s so strict on me?’

A voice snapped Luz out of her thoughts. “What are you doing?” The venomous sounding voice startled the latina as she jumped up, hands flailing. The sound of a loud metal clank rang throughout the room as brass met the hard floor. 

Luz froze, the instrument no longer in her hands. She didn’t even need to look down to know, so instead she slowly turned around to see the impressively red face of the one person who could and probably would kill her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no Luz. 
> 
> So this is by far my shortest chapter, but the next chapter will more than make up for that. 
> 
> I hope y’all enjoyed!


	6. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz tries to make amends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to get this on out, I’ve just been really busy. Every time I finally sat down to write, I’d only get a few paragraphs in before I had to do something else. 
> 
> The next chapter may take a bit longer as well, but I’m not 100% sure. I’ll do my best. 
> 
> I hope y’all enjoy this chapter!

The girl stood heaving in front of Luz, the red in her face clashing with her light green hair. Luz took a step back instinctively, but her foot met the french horn that she had just dropped, reminding Luz of its presence, and she nearly tripped over it. 

A rush of fear ran over her as Amity gave Luz a look that could kill. “Really?!” The girl in front of her spat. 

Forcing herself to talk, Luz did all she could to try and de-escalate the situation. “It’s not what it looks like,” Luz started, crouching down next and attempting to put the horn back in its case. “I was just uhhh looking for some, uh, valve oil! Yeah. I needed some valve oil and I figured our good old drum major would probably have some.” Luz chuckled dryly and attempted an innocent smile. 

The pure rage in Amity’s expression didn’t falter as she quickly stepped forward and grabbed her french horn out of Luz’s hands. She carefully inspected the instrument and paused when she got to the leadpipe. 

Luz saw a look of what seemed to be fear cross Amity’s face. It was only there for a split second before reverting back to the withering look. “You really think I’m stupid enough to believe your dumb excuse? The twins put you up to this, didn’t they.” Amity said this as more of a statement than a question. 

“I- well I-“ Luz could hardly get another word out before she was interrupted. 

“You just listened to them and did what they said! They’re always trying to get me in trouble. They gave you my locker combination and distracted me so that you could come in here and- and wreck my instrument!” Amity’s voice sounded almost panicked, and she clearly was trying to hold in tears. 

Amity looked Luz right in the eye before continuing. “You said you wanted me to go easier on you? Well why should I when you’ve given me no reason to!” She made a large gesture with her free hand. “First you join marching band playing an instrument you’re terrible at, and then you break mine! This is my personal instrument! My parents are gonna kill me!”

Luz looked between Amity’s face and the part of her instrument that she had been inspecting. A large dent dawned the side of the leadpipe making it impossible for Amity to insert her mouthpiece if she tried. There was no other option but to take it in the shop and pay for it to be fixed. 

"I thought maybe you're just bad at following instructions, but clearly you're more than capable!" Amity hissed while shoving her dented instrument into Luz’s face. 

Luz looked down, eyes tearing up with guilt. “Amity… I’m so sorry.” Her voice was small and it cracked at the end. 

Amity, who was now glaring at Luz with her bright yellow eyes, let out a sound equivalent to a growl and shoved past Luz to put her horn away. 

Luz tried again. “Amity, please, I really didn’t mean to. I wasn’t going to drop it, you just startled me.” Luz sounded desperate at this point. 

Amity crams her instrument into her locker and locks it up before standing. “Who could believe anything you say?” She then turned around, grabbed a metronome that was plugged into the wall, and left the hallway.

Luz stood there for another minute just trying to collect herself. Tears had now fallen from her eyes, and everything burned with guilt and regret. Luz brought up her hand to wipe them away as best she could before heading to the door that leads into the band room. 

———

Lilith stood on the podium when Luz walked in. She’s safe for now. On her way to her spot, she had to walk by Amity, who refused to even look at her. 

A quick glance at the twins let Luz know that they understood what happened. They grimaced at her as she made her way to her spot in the arc. 

Luz picked up her mellophone from where she had left it, and closed her eyes to breathe for a moment before turning all of her attention to Ms. Clawthorne. 

She had trouble fully comprehending what the band director was saying, but understood that they were to go into sectionals again. It was all a blur for Luz as she grabbed her stand and followed the trumpets to wherever they had been assigned to go. 

———

Throughout the sectional, Luz’s guilt dragged her down and her motivation had really dropped. How could she live with herself after what had happened? ‘Maybe it would’ve been better if I didn’t do marching band,” Luz thought. 

Her playing was weak and she put no effort into her tone or tuning, unable to focus on anything that wasn't the overwhelming guilt that was tearing her up. Fortunately, Adegast didn’t seem to care and just continued on. 

It seemed as though the time flew by as Luz started feeling numb to anything. She tried, she really did, to focus on band. That’s what always made her happy. But her thoughts were stuck on Amity, and that empty pit she felt in her insides hadn’t even started to subside. 

———

Music block ended before Luz could even process it. Everyone was already packing up, ready for lunch. Luz couldn’t bring herself to move until a worried looking Willow approached. 

“Luz, what happened? I saw you go into the band hallway during warm ups and you’ve seemed really out of it.” Luz was surprised by the worry and genuine care Willow shows, still not quite used to what having real friends is like. 

Looking up at Willow with a grim expression, she decided to come clean. “I did something really stupid, and I think Amity hates me even more now,” Luz started, her bottom lip quivering. Willow had noticed and rushed forward to give her friend a hug. 

“Luz, no matter what you did, Gus and I are here for you, alright?” Luz leaned heavily into the hug, and let out a relieved sigh as she felt Willow pull her in closer. 

“Thanks, again. I realize I’ve said that to you a lot lately, but I really am grateful for the both of you.” Willow started pulling away to look Luz in the eye. “If you’re wondering what I did, I helped her siblings with a prank and dented her horn. I didn’t mean to though, I wasn’t going to hurt it, but I was startled when she caught me and I dropped her horn.”

Willow blinked with an almost blank expression before saying “Wow. She loved that horn.” Luz felt ashamed and knew that her face showed this. “Hey, she kind of did deserve it though. But yeah, I get why she’s pretty mad.”

“But I didn’t mean to! I had decided at the last moment I wasn’t going to follow through but it just happened. When I tried explaining to her that it was an accident, she wouldn’t listen!”

Willow nodded in understanding before speaking. “Then you need to let her know that it was a mistake. She was probably still in shock at the time. Now that she’s had some time to think, talking with her and explaining what happened could help you.” As Willow said this, Gus had finally come back from the band hallway. 

“Hey, what’d I miss?” He asked, noticing his two friends still hadn’t packed up their instruments. 

Willow turned to Gus. “I’ll explain during lunch. Luz is going to talk to Amity.” Looking back to Luz, she continued. “Try talking to Amity when she leaves the cafeteria. She’s been leaving early every day. It’d give you two a chance to speak in private, alright?”

Luz nodded yes before heading to the band hall to put away her instrument. 

———

Luz had rushed to pack her things up, but was still one of the last ones in the cafeteria due to the conversation she had with Willow. She found the table Amity had been at the day before. Fortunately for Luz, the drum major was just standing up. 

Luz had decided to skip lunch today, talking with Amity being her biggest priority. Amity threw away a few wrappers before striding in Luz’s direction, pointedly not looking up at her. She made a wide turn to pass Luz, who followed behind.

The walk was short, and they passed Willow and Gus who were on their way to lunch. Amity walked in the band room first, Luz following. They didn’t stop until they got in the band locker hallway, to which Amity let out an exasperated sigh. 

“What do you want?” She didn’t even turn to look at Luz. 

Luz slowly approached Amity until she was within arms reach of the teal haired drum major. “Amity, I just wanted to explain myself, and tell you how deeply sorry I am for what happened.” 

Amity spun around, leveling a glare in Luz’s direction. “You’re only saying sorry because you were caught! You don’t even care about what you did, just leave me alone!” Her voice grew in volume as she spoke.

Flinching, Luz took a small step back, squirming under Amity’s intense glare. Luz forced herself to look up at Amity while she began speaking. “Amity please, just hear me out. Yes I was going to do what the twins had told me. They said that if you got in trouble, you’d lay off on me in class. But now I realize how dumb I was. No one deserves what I did to your instrument, not even you.”

“Oh so now you think I should forgive you? Because you feel bad?” Amity still sounded angry, but not as much as earlier. 

“I’m not asking you to forgive me. I just want you to understand that I really, really didn't mean to drop your french horn. The moment I took it out of the case, I knew I couldn’t do what the twins wanted of me.” Luz’s voice began to waver as she held Amity’s gaze. “I mean it when I say you startled me. I am so sorry Amity, and as long as you know that, you can go back to calling me out. I don’t care, I deserve it anyway.”

Luz’s eyes were watering up at this point, but she refused to break her eyes away from the rich yellow. “I’ll do whatever I can to make it up to you. Pay for any repairs, talk to your parents, anything. I don't want you getting in trouble for something I did.”

Amity’s expression softened for a moment, hearing Luz’s pleads. The sincerity in Luz’s voice and the look in her eyes let Amity know that she was telling the truth. As much as she wanted to continue scolding Luz for what she did, Amity knew it wouldn’t be fair to her. 

Sighing, she finally spoke, a resigned look in her eyes. “Look, maybe I have been a bit harsh on you, I’ll work on that.” Amity averted her eyes from Luz’s, a hand coming up to rub the back of her neck. “As for my instrument, I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry about paying repairs.” Glancing back up at Luz, Amity finished by saying “I don’t forgive you, but I’ll let it go for now.” She then turned back to her locker, preparing to open it. 

Luz’s eyes had widened significantly. To say that Luz was shocked by Amity’s words would be an understatement. “Really? You’re okay with letting this go?”

Turning back enough to look at Luz, Amity responded. “Don’t push you luck, Luz. And I’m, uh, I’m sorry. I guess. For calling you out so much, that was pretty uncool of me to do. I mean I’ll still do it when necessary, but I’ll try to do it at better times.” Hearing Amity make this promise to be more courteous during rehearsal made Luz’s eyes tear up for a completely different reason. 

Luz had to wipe away the tears that had threatened to fall while a big grin spread across her face. “Thank you! I’ll do my best to improve enough so you don’t have to call me out anyway.” Luz began walking backwards to the door to the band room. “I’ll leave you to it then.” Her back hit the door and she jumped. 

“See you later, Luz,” Amity said, not even turning to look at the one in question. 

“Yup, thanks Amity!” Luz pushed her way through the door, her grin still very present on her face. 

———

Luz sped toward the cafeteria, excited to tell her friends of this new development. Before reaching the table, two blond twins stopped her in her path. 

“Luz! We were looking for you…” Edric trailed off, looking a bit uncomfortable. Emira didn’t look much better. 

“Look, we wanted to say sorry about earlier. Our prank may have been going a bit too far and we shouldn’t have dragged you into it.” As Emira said this, her eyes darted around, unable to meet Luz’s.

Luz nodded, unsure how to respond. “Uh, yeah. Thanks for apologizing?” She tried. 

The twins still stood there, ashamed looks on their faces. “If there’s anything we can do to make it up to you, please let us know,” Emira said, sincerely. 

Luz thought of something immediately. “Actually, could you make sure Amity doesn’t get the full blame for this? She doesn’t deserve to get in trouble for something she didn’t do.”

Both Edric and Emira nodded in unison. “Of course, we were kinda gonna do that anyway as an apology to her,” Ed responded. 

“Well, thank you then. I need to go sit down,” Luz said, awkwardly. She then sidestepped the twins and continued on her path. 

The twins let her by, and Luz heard the sigh of relief from them as she did so. She’s not exactly sure where she stands with them, but Luz is still a bit upset that they pressured her into doing something that hurt Amity. 

Gus was the first to see Luz, and waved excitedly. As she sat down, Luz heard Willow asking how the talk with Amity went. 

Luz paused for a moment to think before replying. “Actually, it went way better than I expected.” Both Willow and Gus’s eyes widened at hearing this. Luz noticed and asked “What?”

Gus was first to speak. “Oh nothing, I guess I just didn’t know what to expect, especially after what Willow told me about what you did.” 

“Yeah, what happened?” Willow asked. 

At the question, Luz began relaying the events that took place in the band hallway, mentioning how Amity said she’d let it go, and how she even said she’d be nicer in class. At hearing all of this, Willow’s jaw was practically on the floor. Gus didn’t look much better. 

“She really said that? She’s not mad at you?” Willow was asking these questions in disbelief. 

“Uh, yeah. See, I knew she couldn’t be too bad. I just had to have a real talk with her.” Gus and Willow glanced at each other, very wary. 

“Are you sure this isn’t some sort of trap or something? That doesn’t really sound like Amity…” Gus said. 

“Yeah, I’ve never known her to be the ‘letting something go’ type of person,” Willow continued on. 

Luz just shrugged. “Maybe she had a change of heart? I don’t know, but I think she actually feels bad for calling me out so often. I guess we’ll have to see tomorrow if she follows through on her promise to dial it down.” 

Gus and Willow still look unconvinced of Amity’s ‘change of heart’ but decide not to dwell on it any farther. Gus instead changes the subject, going on about what the point of dental braces are, and how they affect his playing. 

Luz’s mind occasionally drifted off to Amity again. For some reason, she was having trouble getting the mint haired drum major out of her head. She too was surprised by what Amity had said, and held hope for the future. The thought of making a friend out of the youngest Blight left Luz feeling strangely thrilled. It’s something Luz will have to work on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Amity development. 
> 
> While writing this I literally went back on episode 7 several times and took ideas for how Amity would react to Luz’s mistake. Writing Luz and Amity’s interactions is honestly really fun, they went through so much in the show. 
> 
> This story has reached over a thousand hits and nearly one hundred kudos. This honestly means so much. Thank you for reading!


End file.
